Normal: Not So ReBoot
by OMGACookie
Summary: What Arecia had sacrificed and and given them, they are eternally grateful, even if their new lives aren't so... normal, anyways.- A Rewrite of a previous version


A/N: Okay, so, if you don't know already, this is a reboot of the last one that I wrote.

I really enjoy this game. I think it's grittier and more realistic. Maybe it's because, in wars, people are bound to die, unlike our classic hero story. I kind of get sick of completely happy endings sometimes since they REALLY piss me off.

No, I do not own this game (If I did then I would have made it much deeper, longer and more intense... Don't say it). And no, I do not own the characters, locations and everything else. All of these rightfully belong to square enix whose copyright task force has taken down all videos regarding the cutscenes of the game.

Spoiler Alert too.

* * *

"Machina~"

Eyes, half open, Machina stares off into empty space. Or at least, what is perceived to be empty space. He's actually staring into his cereal bowl. He's bored. Not just bored, but he can't help but just think sometimes.

"Hey~ Machina~ Wake up~"

He blinks his eyes once and feels a cold splash of water on his face and he jolts awake, flying from his chair, all the way to the wall, eyes frenzied and breathing deeply. He stands for a few seconds, before realizing that there is only laughter in the room. A very familiar sound of laughter...

"Rem! Not funny!"

"It so was!"

Rem is laughing, clutching her stomach as she drops to the floor, backwards. She's hysterical, not outright guffawing, but laughing in a way that her whole body shakes. From where Machina's standing, Rem's skirt is wide open, revealing her pink underwear that he tries so hard not to look at. Not that he hasn't seen it before.

_Fal'cie damn it._

He can't help but chuckle at his own silliness, and he walks over to Rem, who is slowly calming down. He lies on top of her, and she focuses on him, her expression, dreamy, legs tender and face hot as a steamer.

"Have you calmed down yet?" He asks in a playful tone.

"Hmm... In what way?" She says in a sultry voice.

"... Laughing, I meant."

"Almost... Maybe I could use your help."

Machina smiles, he knows what that means, so he leans closer. rem's cheeks flourish with red and pink, her eyes begin to close as she prepares her lips. His breath tickles her skin, causing her to whimper just the slightest. She prepares for it and...

He misses. Intentionally. He moves his mouth to her left ear instead and says:

"Maybe next time."

He gets off of her and laughs. She stands up too, face mad with red, arms clutching around her chest.

"You tease!"

"No, now we're even. C'mon we gotta head to class. I don't want Kurasame making those awful insinuations about us again."

"Not that he's wrong though..."

"That's not the point. Now c'mon."

He takes her hand and leads her to the door, where they slip their shoes on and head for school. Rem can't help but pout, but it goes unnoticed by her boyfriend.

"You had me all excited too..."

By the time they get there, They realize that they were late anyway. So they burst through the doors to find the whole of Class Zero looking at them, some with apologetic expressions, and Emina is at the instructors table. _Oh crap_, Machina thinks, if Kurasame's insinuations weren't bad (and correct) enough, Emina's teasing would surely put the both of them to the test. He gulps down air to prepare himself, but it is already too late.

"Good Morning, you two lovebirds. Catch enough sleep last night? Or was it another one night stand?"

The whole of Class Zero laughs, even King can't help but chuckle a bit. Flustered, Rem and Machina rush down to their seats in the front row. They sit down and immediately retrieve their books.

"C'mon, no response? At least tell me that you took some precaution for birth control. No? Here, for you Machina, carry that around with you just in case you guys have that urge again."

Machina feels something small hit his head. He turns his attention to the item which so conveniently happens to be a condom for him. Emina even gets the size and brand right. _Damn her_. Rem can't help but blush even more. The blood that rushes to her head is enough to make her faint again.

Lately, the two of them have been a lot of scrutiny. The boys would constantly interrogate Machina about Rem and himself. The girls would do the same to Rem. They'd refuse to disclose anything. But in the end, no matter what had happened, they were still together.

"Now, aside from those two ditsy girls, we're all here, let us continue..."

Machina opens his notebook and takes down notes for the first 15 minutes before doodling. Every once in a while, Rem would nudge him to keep him from falling asleep. He thanks her for that, but he wishes for the class to end faster. As this is the last day before thanksgiving holiday, and this so happens to be his last class, Machina only prays that Emina has to leave early.

Fortunately for him, the class was a mere recap of the philosophy classes of the previous week. Before he knows it, Rem nudges him again and he wakes from his stupor to find most of Class Zero socializing amongst each other. It is a fair sight for the sore eyes of Machina as he retains the memories of the true universe they have lived through as have many others.

It was nice to have his brother alive again, besides the whole "I date your teacher, so you shouldn't have a hard time" thing. It was nice to get along with Ace now and study with him and a few others. It was nice to know that nothing was wrong with the world. And it certainly was nice to know that his girlfriend wasn't dying anymore.

_I wonder what Arecia had to do to grant us such freedom,_he wonders. It is a question for later, as Rem was tugging at his sleeve to have a snack, which he obliges . He's seen a hungry Rem before. Beautiful and kind hearted as she is, no one should ever step between Rem and her food. Especially cookies. He learns that the hard way.

* * *

It isn't the numerous alarm clocks in the bedroom that wake Cinque up in the morning the next day, but the soft buzzing of her mobile phone on her vanity desk. She manages to sit up and let her legs take over as they drag her to answer her phone. Fatigue causes her eyes to flutter a little, impairing her vision and almost causing her to trip over Deuce's slippers.

When she finally makes it over (albeit, without hurting her self in the midst of her clumsiness), she slowly, but gently, rubs her eyes and lets her mouth gape and yawn before answering the phone.

"Helooo~?"

"Hey, Cinque, it's Rem."

"Oh~ Hai~"

"Are you alright? You sound tired."

"Ya~? I just wok up~"

"Oh, I see. I'm sorry if I'm disturbing your-"

"No, no~, it's okay," Cinque gives out another gargantuan of a yawn, "I was going to get up anyways~..."

"I just wanted to call you about class today."

"Yeah~ What about it?"

"... You missed it."

It is then that Cinque's eyes suddenly jerk open, wide in shock. Her heart sinks a little and her chest begins to feel sore as her mind races at the fact that she's MISSED CLASS AGAIN. She panics for a moment, seemingly hyperventilating, and she races around the apartment, trying to get herself ready for school. This doesn't go unnoticed by Rem, who only sighs through the other end of the line and says,

"Cinque, today's the last day of classes, you don't have to go anymore."

Cinque relaxes a little and manages to slow her breathing down, but her heart still beats at a pace faster than a sprinting chocobo's legs. And that says something.

"B-But, I still missed, no, We still missed class, I gotta-"

"Cinque, it's okay, I was just calling to tell you that we'll be coming over in a bit with my notes, some snacks and a movie or two. I was just wondering if it's okay if we spend some time, you know, like a girly night."

Now, Cinque truly calms down, _Rem really is a good friend_, she thinks to herself. But a faint morsel of fatigue still lingered, and the end of her adrenaline rush meant that Cinque was returning to her original sleepy state. While not as dead tired as before, it meant that her speech would be slurred and goofy, as it normally is in the mornings.

"Oh, that's not a problem. When do you want to come over?"

"Maybe... Now?"

"Oh, okay. I'll go change, where are you right now?"

"Umm... Shopping, with Seven."

"Oh? I wouldn't think Seven shops~"

"Yeah, well, she's... having fun, finding a new pair of heels, boots. I dunno, I want to see her in a dress too. Bet she's beautiful like her mom."

"Miss Claire you mean?"

"Yeah. you remember her. Right?"

"... She was kinda mean."

"Seven kind of takes after her doesn't she. Austere and all."

Cinque takes a minute to remind herself of the dinner with Seven's parents as a sleepover. Strangely enough, Seven's dad was doing the cooking, and they got along pretty well, said she reminded him of an old friend they'd lost a long time ago. Seven's Mom caught them munching on cookies in the middle of the night, and that death glare from her icy blue eyes was scarier than Kurasame's Tonberry and its knife. The very thought of it made her cringe.

"I guess."

"Well, I gotta go, Seven gave me a skirt to try on."

"Okay, I'll see you later then, I guess."

"Yeah, see you~"

"Bai~"

Just as she hangs the phone up and sighs, Deuce came wandering in with her stuffed chocobo in her arms and a groggy look on her face. The sight of Deuce in such a condition always makes Cinque laugh (she finds it kind of cute). But after admiring her adorable roommate, she manages to speak.

"Just so you know. We missed class-"

The news is enough for Deuce to have a response nearly identical to the one Cinque had, but the flute player didn't hyperventilate and run around the apartment, rushing to get dressed. In fact, Deuce just stood there, in shock. Cinque swore that she could faint any second.

"But it doesn't matter, today's the last day, and Rem's gonna have some fun with us."

Deuce's mouth made her signature "Oh" as a response.

"So~ We gotta clean the house again~!"

"What do you mean, we just cleaned it last night."

* * *

Seven arrives at the door of the "Ditsy Two"s (as she's come to call them) apartment with Rem by her side. Now that the school year was practically over, she's got a lot of time to relax until the train arrives to take them home a couple days later. Her room had practically nothing to pack. She could help Sice do her part in the cleaning and packing, but it would only spoil her for next year. She couldn't let that happen to her friend.

Initially nervous about staying over with Deuce and Cinque, Seven convinces herself that it will be fun, much like the one they had at her house. Except, without her mother barging in when she found out that the cookie jar was missing. That wasn't exactly pleasant. But her near flawless memory continues to scar her.

"Hey Girl~!"

She watches and smiles on as Rem and Cinque enter a rather warm, sisterly embrace. To be honest, it made her temperature rise a little. But she is able to ignore it as she turns to Deuce who politely smiles and bows at her.

"Hello Seven."

"Hey Deuce."

There is no physical interaction between the two subtle and docile girls. They can only stare into each other's soft eyes and smile. Seven doesn't understand physical intimacy, her dad would always tell her of how her mom used to be real pissed off when they first met, and that she was the same way as well. She's never given a hug to anyone before.

"Come in, come in~ We've made some supper."

Seven walks into a room that would aptly be defined as girly. The walls were all pink with some decorative patterns to it. The floor was white carpeting that felt somewhat soft to the touch. All the furniture, devices and even accessories like the TV were "girly". Seven simply couldn't find another word that quite describes her current whereabouts.

But, she relishes in the simple joy of spending time with regular girls, not like Sice or Queen who are way too mature and old to be true. The food, for one, wasn't always infused with the faintest bit of alcohol. she'd bet that they don't even drink, for one. they just seem too young to take solace in losing control over yourself and falling dead tired.

They have a nice dinner of Stew and various other small dishes. Seven doesn't eat much, even at Deuce's insistence of finishing the food. Something about her was hesitant to try, but she ends up loving the taste, free of yeast, but she still doesn't eat much. She did manage to drink a lot of water though, she doesn't understand how the others aren't so thirsty.

They finish the dinner with a snow white topped banana nut cake, one that makes Seven's Jaw and cheeks sore from it's absolute goodness and the richness of it's flavor. It makes it harder to speak, not that they were speaking a lot in the first place, they were munching and wharfing down food most of the time. Seven has never seen Rem eat so much before, nor has she seen the adorable sight of Cinques puffed cheeks from taking such a large bite out of a drumstick.

It's amusing to watch the other three understand each other and giggle while there's still food in their mouths, Seven can't seem to understand a thing and silently observes them, slowly learning to make out words from muffles. She can't help but wonder if their really is alcohol around here, and that she just doesn't know about it. Since that's usually the case when it comes to her friends.

But to think that your friends could be drunk on water?

Makes you wonder if it's water or Vodka.

For some reason, after watching the movie together, and drinking tons of water and stuffing themselves with junk food. Cinque and Rem become mysteriously fatigued but still cheery and Deuce seems to have lost control of her tongue. _Maybe it's just from over-exhaution_, Seven thinks, _but I'm not sure if- AAAHHH!_

Cinque's wild swing of her hand knocks Seven's glass of cold water over her chest which, inevitably, causes her to squeak and cradle her chest with her arms, blushing in the process. The three girls look at her with concerned faces, Cinque brings a hand to cover her mouth. Seven looks at them with a look that says "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?", something she takes from her mother.

Another moment of silence passes, and the other three girls begin to laugh maniacally, much to Seven's dismay and misery. Cinque's mouth is wide open when she's guffawing, which results in Seven throwing a potato chip like a ninja star into it, causing her to momentarily choke on it. Now Cinque is the only one who isn't laughing.

A pillow fight and another movie later, the girls set up a line of sleeping bags and mats for them to sleep on as well as a lamp that provided some light without turning on the more powerful ones of the apartment. Needless to say, Seven was enjoying herself, it seemed somewhat safer to be with these girls than Sice and Cater and Queen. She knows that, at least she won't be doing anything embarrassing.

What she doesn't know, is that this whole get up, with the sleeping mats arrangement and the lamp, usually meant that it was circle time.

And circle time was when she would be truly embarrassed.

True enough though, she'd cradled her legs with her arms and listened to Deuce's romantic experiences with Ace and how she won him over from Mitsuki as the other girls squealed in delight, going as far as to asking her about the details of their recent first date. Seven was beginning to feel sick, but it wasn't the disease type sick, it was the sickness of tired eyes and the urge to lean forward and kiss someone. But the iron strong will she inherits from her mother prevents her from showing it publicly.

They move on to Cinque's failed attempts to capture Trey's attention. The sympathize with her, and Seven places a comforting hand on her shoulder, flashing a rare smile that she usually never shows. She can't bring herself to give her a hug though. As claiming "I love you" only to have it interpreted as "I love it" as in loving alcohol when they were arguing about trying it, is kind of comedic, and it almost made her laugh instead.

Then, the conversation shifts to Rem... Ah, Rem. She and her wonderful stories of being with Machina, about living in the same apartment and spending the holidays with romantic strolls down the school gardens and main fountain area. The stories cause Seven's heart to melt, as she can't help but wonder what it feels like to be held in such a gentleman's embrace, waiting eagerly for his mouth to bite on your upper lip as you wrap your arms around his back. Such ecstasy was addicting and it would soon cause her to go crazy, but she still manages to push that out of her mind.

"Speaking of which, Seven?"

Seven snaps out of her daydream and re-calibrates her focus to answer to Deuce.

"I don't remember you fancying anyone."

Deuce brings up a good point, Seven never publicly or even subliminally implied any urge or desire to be with someone that she fell in love with.

"Yeah. Sev-chan~ Do you like anyone?~"

Seven blushes a little and looks to Rem, who only smiles sweetly back at her. She looks down for a bit, face glowing bright red.

"C'mon, Sev-chan, you can tell us~"

_I doubt that,_ Seven thought to herself. She nervously looks at Rem again, who gives her a comforting and supportive smile once more.

"Your secret is safe with us."

"I don't like anyone!"

Seven blurts out her lie with great frustration, that is enough to cause the others to be silent. Seven thinks it is good enough to convince them that she really doesn't, considering how much emotion she's put into it. But, unfortunately...

"Really?"

"Surely, you must like someone, afterall, what kind of girl doesn't have a crush. And you being the almighty Seven, there isn't a single boy you can't get."

Seven doesn't let the irony go unnoticed.

"I really don't like anyone. Even if I did, it wouldn't last very long anyways."

This causes Cinque and Deuce to pout.

"Aww~ Well, if you did like someone, who would it be?"

Seven says the first acceptable male name that comes to mind.

"Jack."

Now that she thinks about it, she did kind of like Jack for his calm but playful and childish demeanor.

"Really?"

Seven smirks.

"Oh, I can actually see that happening right now. You two, alone, in the night, under the moon at the terrace."

"That would be so ro-man-tic!"

"Why didn't you give it a shot?"

Seven shrugs.

"I never got the notion, besides, Jack doesn't like anyone in return."

"How do you know?"

"I just... Do, I guess."

"Well that's lame."

"Besides, its not like it's a must to have a boyfriend right?"

"She's got a point."

Seven smiles a little and tenses up. _Well, at least that's over with_, she says to herself.

An hour or so later, Seven's eyes begin to flutter. While the other girls are still chatting away, Seven says that she needs to lie down for a bit. She faces away from the girls and eavesdrops on their conversation, reminding herself of how fortunate she is to be alive again. But slowly, and surely, her eyelids begin to shut and she falls into a rather nice slumber.

* * *

Later into the night, in a dumb attempt to extract the name of the person that Seven must have a crush on, Cinque tries to talk to Seven while she's half asleep, when the mind is most vulnerable (according to Caetuna, at least). She doesn't know how she's going to do it, with Deuce and Rem nearby. But she resorts to the simplest, though surprising effective, plan ever devised: Talk to her.

"Hey, hey! Seven!"

"Hmm?"

"Who do you like?"

"Hmm?"

"Who. Do. You. Like?"

Seven doesn't answer. Instead, she moans a little and twists and turns rapidly, her arms seemingly pinned to the floor, struggling to get out of... Something. Cinque swears to Etro that something's not right. Maybe she'd done an excorcism, or like a ritual, or something really creepy. She doesn't know, but she resists the urge to panic.

Her efforts would not be in vain though as after struggling for a bit, Seven finally utters several words that make Cinque gasp.

"Ma... Machina... Please... What if... R-Rem... sees us?"

* * *

O_O. OH DEAR.

Annnyways.

There you have it, first chapter of the reboot.

There may have been some references and cameos in this. Can you find them all?

Don't forget to review, comment, rage, praise, critique, whatever it is that you fancy. It would really mean a lot to me.

Second chapter might have to wait till I fly back to school though. So stay tuned for that. And don't forget to follow me on FictionPress if you can. I've just written my first original fic.


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